Just off the top of my head, some of my favorite Gadd performances can be found on these albums. Gadd may only appear on one or two tunes on some of these records. There are other threads listing his best tracks somewhere in the archives here, I think.

I'm really excited. The title says it all. It's about time someone made a documentary about Gadd. He's one of the most important musicians of the last half of the 20th century. F**king about time, indeed.

* Steve Khan's (www.stevekhan.com) notes on Gadd's incredible drumming on the final section of the track 'An Eye Over Autumn' are great:

"This is truly one of my favorite sections on any of my recordings, and I feel lucky that it happened on 'my record.' It's such a pleasure to watch and listen to a great artist behind the drums. The horn parts had already been written, and Steve had them sketched into his drum part. So, with a drummer like Steve, and there are others (Peter Erskine and Dave Weckl immediately come to mind) who can read, solo, and interpret written music on the fly, it's so exciting to watch all this happening at once. I remember that once the take was done, and we were all gathered in the control room to listen back, Rick Marotta, whom Michael Brecker affectionately calls "the Elvin Jones of Rock,"(because of his loose, and laid-back time feel) was sitting with his head in his hands; and once the last notes had sounded, and the room was quiet, he looked at his dear friend Steve Gadd and said, "I HATE YOU!!!" Which, of course, means the exact opposite!!! It was a great moment and really unforgettable for me."

Hi there! Could you guys explain
what's happening during Steve's solo on 'St. Thomas',Chuck Mangione Quartet,Alive! from 1972? This is
killer one and correct me if I'm wrong but I think I can hear additional percussion at first part of the solo? Tambourine shakin' by one of the members or JUST :) jingle ring on hats? Thanx!

Hi there! Could you guys explain
what's happening during Steve's solo on 'St. Thomas',Chuck Mangione Quartet,Alive! from 1972? This is
killer one and correct me if I'm wrong but I think I can hear additional percussion at first part of the solo? Tambourine shakin' by one of the members or JUST :) jingle ring on hats? Thanx!

I don't know for sure but I've seen Chuck with Steve several times and have seen Chuck play hand percussion a few times. That may or may not be the case here though. If you look at the link I included on #575 of this thread, you can see him using a tambourine on his hi-hat and then removes it part way through his solo.

One thing's for sure - it's a tragedy that this has not been released on CD.

'In the approx. 100 year history of
the drumset, there have been only
two, possibly three transformative
artists on the drums. The ones who
change the way EVERYONE else
plays, who wholly establish a new
musical delivery for what we do.
That's it. Only two or three.
Some are arguable. One is not.

'In the approx. 100 year history of
the drumset, there have been only
two, possibly three transformative
artists on the drums. The ones who
change the way EVERYONE else
plays, who wholly establish a new
musical delivery for what we do.
That's it. Only two or three.
Some are arguable. One is not.

Happy Birthday, Steve Gadd.'

I saw this, too.

The best part is there was some mugwump here arguing with me that Steve wasn't influential. Where is that mother****er now?

I usually shy away from the "my favorite drummer is better than your drummer" arguments but I look at it like this...Not everyone has done enough listening or had enough positive musical experiences to define( to themselves) what good is. So, it's somewhat subjective with some people being more right than others. Not everyone can decide on what's good or even great musically or even drumistically. And even though that may be from a lack of experience, you really can't tell them they're wrong, which, I suppose, is unfortunate...